POPE APPOINTS SUCCESSOR OF ARCHBISHOP OF COTONOU
The Pope has accepted the resignation of the pastoral governance of the Archdiocese of Cotonou (Benin), presented by h.e. Mons. Marcel Honorat Léon Agboton, according to Canon 401 § 2 of the code of Canon law. Pope Benedict XVI has appointed Archbishop of Cotonou (Benin) h.e. Mons. Antoine Ganyé, hitherto Bishop of the Diocese of Dassa-Zoumé (Benin).

LETTER OF THE HOLY FATHER TO THE SPECIAL ENVOY TO THE CELEBRATION OF THE 15TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE SANCTUARY OF SANTA MARIA DELLE GRAZIE "OUR LADY OF MENTORELLA" (August 29, 2010) On 26 June was published the appointment of Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, Prefect of the Congregation for bishops, for the Special Envoy of the Holy Father to the celebration of the 15th anniversary of the sanctuary of Santa Maria delle Grazie "Our Lady of Mentorella" (Diocese of Tivoli), scheduled for August 29, 2010. The Cardinal will be accompanied by an Ecclesiastical Mission composed of the following: Rev. Mons. Benedict Serafini, Vicar General of the Diocese of Tivoli; Rev. Fr. Norbert Raszeja, C.R., Superior General of the Congregation of the resurrection in Rome (since the sanctuary is held for centuries by the Fathers of the same Congregation). We publish below the letter of the Holy Father to eminence Card. Giovanni Battista Re, Prefect Emeritus of the Congregation for bishops:
SOURCE http://www.vatican.va/http://jceworld.blogspot.com/2010/08/vatican-pope-appoints-archbishop-of.html

EUROPE: ENGLAND: LAST CATHOLIC ADOPTION AGENCY FORCED TO CLOSE TO RULING

After fighting an ongoing battle to avoid the fate of other Catholic adoption agencies – either closure or separation from the Church – Catholic Care has been told that it must comply with anti-discrimination laws.

The charity, which covers the diocese of Leeds, Middlesbrough and Hallam, is the only one of 11 Catholic adoption agencies to fight the 2007 Sexual Orientation Regulations (SORs) through the courts. The legislation compels charities to accept same-sex couples as adoptive parents.
Catholic Care challenged an earlier Charity Commission ruling, backed by the Charities Tribunal, that charities could not use Regulation 18 of the SORs, a clause which would allow organisations to exercise limited discrimination in pursuance of their objectives.
Earlier this year, the High Court ruled that Catholic Care had grounds for an appeal. It found that the Charity Commission had misinterpreted Regulation 18, giving a glimmer of hope to the charity.
At the time Mr Justice Briggs found that gay couples could be discriminated against if there were “particularly convincing and weighty reasons” for doing so. He pointed out that the adoption agency dealt exclusively with difficult cases of children who had dropped out of the state system which is open to same-sex couples.
But the Charity Commission found – in a decision made on July 22 – that the case put forward by Catholic Care did not establish “particularly convincing and weighty reasons”.
The Charity Commission ruling listed “evidence of local authorities is also that they consider gay and lesbian people as suitable prospective parents for hard-to-place children and that adoptions made have been successful” as a reason for considering Catholic Care’s appeal unjustified. It said that the interests of the children are paramount and that “the courts have found that it is in the interests of children waiting to be adopted that the pool from which prospective parents are drawn is as wide as possible”.
The Catholic Church considers gay adoption to be gravely immoral.
A spokesman for Catholic Care said: “The Charity is very disappointed with the outcome. Catholic Care will now consider whether there is any other way in which the Charity can continue to support families seeking to adopt children in need.
“In any event, Catholic Care will seek to register as an adoption support agency offering a service to those who were adopted in the past and are now seeking information about their background, and also to support adoptive parents already approved by Catholic Care.”
A spokesman for the Diocese of Leeds could not be reached.http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2010/08/19/last-catholic-adoption-agency-loses-appeal/http://jceworld.blogspot.com/2010/08/europe-england-last-catholic-adoption.html

USCCB report: Cardinal George Announces Vatican Approval of New Roman Missal English-Language Translation, Implementation Set for First Sunday of Advent 2011

WASHINGTON—Cardinal Francis George, OMI, Archbishop of Chicago and President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), has announced that the full text of the English-language translation of the Roman Missal, Third Edition, has been issued for the dioceses of the United States of America.
The text was approved by the Vatican, and the approval was accompanied by a June 23 letter from Cardinal Llovera Antonio Cañizares, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. The Congregation also provided guidelines for publication.

In addition, on July 24, the Vatican gave approval for several adaptations, including additional prayers for the Penitential Act at Mass and the Renewal of Baptismal Promises on Easter Sunday. Also approved are texts of prayers for feasts specific to the United States such as Thanksgiving, Independence Day and the observances of feasts for saints such as Damien of Molokai, Katharine Drexel, and Elizabeth Ann Seton. The Vatican also approved the Mass for Giving Thanks to God for the Gift of Human Life, which can be celebrated on January 22.
Cardinal George announced receipt of the documents in an August 20 letter to the U.S. Bishops and issued a decree of proclamation that states that “The use of the third edition of the Roman Missal enters into use in the dioceses of the United States of America as of the First Sunday of Advent, November 27, 2011. From that date forward, no other edition of the Roman Missal may be used in the dioceses of the United States of America.”
The date of implementation was chosen to allow publishers time to prepare texts and parishes and dioceses to educate parishioners.
“We can now move forward and continue with our important catechetical efforts as we prepare the text for publication,” Cardinal George said.
In the coming weeks, staff of the bishops’ Secretariat of Divine Worship will prepare the text for publication and collaborate with the staff of the International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL), which will assist Bishops’ Conferences in bringing the text to publication. In particular, ICEL has been preparing the chant settings of the texts of the Missal for use in the celebration of the Mass. Once all necessary elements have been incorporated into the text and the preliminary layout is complete, the final text will go to the publishers to produce the ritual text, catechetical resources and participation aids for use in the Liturgy.
Receipt of the text marks the start of proximate preparation for Roman Missal implementation. Before first use of the new text in Advent 2011, pastors are urged to use resources available to prepare parishioners. Some already have been in use; others are being released now. They include the Parish Guide for the Implementation of the Roman Missal, Third Edition, and Become One Body, One Spirit in Christ, a multi-media DVD resource produced by ICEL in collaboration with English-language Conferences of Bishops. Both will be available from the USCCB. Information on resources can be found at www.usccb.org/romanmissal
Bishop Arthur Serratelli of Paterson, New Jersey, Chair of the Bishops’ Committee on Divine Worship, voiced gratitude for the approval.
“I am happy that after years of preparation, we now have a text that, when introduced late next year, will enable the ongoing renewal of the celebration of the Sacred Liturgy in our parishes,” he said. Msgr. Anthony Sherman, Director of the Secretariat for Divine Worship of the USCCB noted, “A great effort to produce the new Roman Missal for the United States, along with the other necessary resources, has begun. Even as that work is underway a full–scale catechesis about the Liturgy and the new Roman Missal should be taking place in parishes, so that when the time comes, everyone will be ready.”http://www.usccb.org/comm/archives/2010/10-149.shtmlhttp://jceworld.blogspot.com/2010/08/america-usa-cardinal-says-vatican.html

All Africa report: The Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference has expressed its concern at the incidences of violence and intimidation perpetrated by participants in the public servants strike in South Africa.
"In particular, we abhor the inhuman conduct of denying doctors and patients' access to hospitals and teachers and pupils' access to their schools. We are horrified that care is being denied to the weakest and most vulnerable," they said.
"We call on all educators and healthcare workers, especially, those who are Catholics to examine their own conscience and action seriously. While we uphold and support your right to strike, we call on you to recognise the rights of others to choose freely what they want to do," they said in a press statement
The bishops further said, "In particular, we call on you to give serious consideration to the poor, the vulnerable, the sick and the young people who are desperately striving for a better life by completing their education."
The bishops pleaded with the Public Service Commission and Ministry of Education to ensure that in future, negotiations about educators' remuneration are scheduled for the beginning of the year so as to avoid educators' strikes at a time when the Matric Students were preparing for their final examinations.http://allafrica.com/stories/201008201171.htmlhttp://jceworld.blogspot.com/2010/08/africa-south-africa-catholic-bishops.html

Asia News report: Tamil, Sinhalese and Muslims together to remember his disappearance. Fr. Brown was last seen August 20, 2006.

Colombo (AsiaNews) - Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims together to remember Fr Nihal Jim Brown (pictured), an ethnic Tamil Catholic priest, who died Aug. 20, 2006. The group of people, and relatives of the deceased, met yesterday at the Centre for Society and Religion in Colombo, "because the memory of Fr Jim Brown and his assistant can not be erased from our hearts".

The church of the diocese of Jaffna entrusted to Fr Brown was immersed in the war zone between army troops and Tamil rebels. On 20 August 2006, the fighting came very close to the parish. To give the faithful shelter from the bombs, Fr. Brown opened the church. The clashes left 20 dead and 100 wounded, and the priest asked the military permission to take survivors to hospital.
The last witness, who saw him at a Navy checkpoint of the, claimed that he was with Wenceslaus Vimalathas, his assistant and 40-year old father of five children. An officer of the Sri Lanka Navy was threatening them. Once Fr Brown and Vimalathas left Allaipiddy, they disappeared without trace.
Fr. Nandana Saparamadu opened the meeting with a prayer in Sinhalese and said: "Fr. Brown asks us to grow in faith in God and develop our courage to build a more just society". Sandhya Eknaligoda, the wife of Prageeth, a journalist who also disappeared, lit a candle next to a picture of Fr Brown, saying "the candle flame gives us strength and courage to move forward in defence of our loved ones." Fr. Selvarathnam called everyone to unity in the name of Fr Brown: "God always takes the side of the oppressed and asks us to take care of our brothers. And where is our brother Jim? We must take care of each other: take care of the Tamil and Sinhalese of Sri Lanka's Muslims. "

Cath News report: Jesuit Refugee Service Australia has opened a large new shelter in Sydney's Manly, which will house asylum seekers and offer a temporary place to live for those already granted protection visas. The former boarding house comprises 14 rooms and one small flat, reports Province Express.
"These new refugees came initially to JRS as asylum seekers and received mid-to-long term assistance from us, including accommodation. Now that they have been successful in their applications for asylum, they have to find their own accommodation," says the Director of JRS, Father Sacha Bermudez-Goldman SJ.
"However, given the current residential market and many other factors, this can be very difficult to do. Our aim then is to provide them with low-rent transition accommodation for a few months and hopefully during this time they'll be able to find a new place of their own."
The house, which is within walking distance of the beach, is a departure from JRS' inner-city shelters. "Utilities and travel for refugees will be more expensive, but the shelter is spacious and can house far more refugees than we were able to before," said Fr Bermudez-Goldman.
The report lists items members of the public can contribute to furnish the shelter.
A separate report on the website said that Jesuit Mission has launched an emergency appeal for the victims of the Pakistan floods.
The Director of Jesuit Mission, Fr Phil Crotty SJ, says the organisation has already received expressions of support in response to the tragedy.
"Through the work of Fr Renato Zecchin and the other Jesuits working in Lahore, Jesuit Mission will provide support to flood affected families struggling to get their lives back to normal," said Fr Crotty. "Our hearts go out to all the people whose lives have been affected by this appalling flood." http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=22927http://jceworld.blogspot.com/2010/08/australia-jesuits-open-large-shelter.html

TODAY'S SAINT:

St. Pius X

POPE
Feast Day:
August 21
Born:
2 June 1835 at Riese, diocese of Treviso, Venice, Austria (now Italy)
Died:
20 August 1914 at Vatican City
Canonized:
29 May 1954 by Pope Pius XII
Patron of: first communicants, pilgrims
Born 2 June, 1835, at Riese, Province of Treviso, in Venice. His parents were Giovanni Battista Sarto and Margarita (née Sanson); the former, a postman, died in 1852. In 1850 he received the tonsure from the Bishop of Treviso, and was given a scholarship of the Diocese of Treviso in the seminary of Padua, where he finished his classical, philosophical, and theological studies with distinction. He was ordained in 1858, and for nine years was chaplain at Tombolo, having to assume most of the functions of parish priest, as the pastor was old and an invalid. In 1867 he was named arch-priest of Salzano, a large borough of the Diocese of Treviso, where he restored the church, and provided for the enlargement and maintenance of the hospital by his own means, consistently with his habitual generosity to the poor; he especially distinguished himself by his abnegation during the cholera. In 1875 he was made a canon of the cathedral of Treviso, and filled several offices, among them those of spiritual director and rector of the seminary, examiner of the clergy, and vicar-general; moreover, he made it possible for the students of the public schools to receive religious instruction. In 1878, on the death of Bishop Zanelli, he was elected vicar-capitular. On 10 November, 1884, he was named Bishop of Mantua, and consecrated on 20 November. In 1887 he held a diocesan synod.
At the secret consistory of June, 1893, Leo XIII created him a cardinal under the title of San Bernardo alle Terme; three days later, he was preconized Patriarch of Venice. In 1898 he held the diocesan synod. Giuseppe Sarto was elected Pope on 4 August, 1903.
In his first Encyclical, wishing to develop his programme to some extent, he said that the motto of his pontificate would be "instaurare omnia in Christo" (Ephesians 1:10). He advised all to receive Holy Communion frequently and, if possible, daily, dispensing the sick from the obligation of fasting to the extent of enabling them to receive Holy Communion twice each month, and even oftener. Finally, by the Decree "Quam Singulari", he recommended that the first Communion of children should not be deferred too long after they had reached the age of discretion. It was by his desire that the Eucharistic Congress of 1905 was held at Rome, while he enhanced the solemnity of subsequent Eucharistic congresses by sending to them cardinal legates. The fiftieth anniversary of the proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception was an occasion of which he took advantage to enjoin devotion to Mary (Encyclical "Ad illum diem", 2 February, 1904); and the Marian Congress, together with the coronation of the image of the Immaculate Conception in the choir of St. Peter's, was a worthy culmination of the solemnity. As a simple chaplain, a bishop, and a patriarch, Giuseppe Sarto was a promoter of sacred music; as pope, he published, 22 November, 1903, a Motu Proprio on sacred music in churches, and at the same time ordered the authentic Gregorian Chant to be used everywhere, while he caused the choir books to be printed with the Vatican font of type under the supervision of a special commission. In the Encyclical "Acerbo nimis" (15 April, 1905) he treated of the necessity of catechismal instruction, not only for children, but also for adults, giving detailed rules, especially in relation to suitable schools for the religious instruction of students of the public schools, and even of the universities. He caused a new catechism to be published for the Diocese of Rome.
(Edited from: http://www.ewtn.com/saintsHoly/saints/P/stpiusx.asphttp://jceworld.blogspot.com/2010/08/todays-saint-pope-pius-x-died-1835.html

TODAY'S GOSPEL: AUG. 21: MEMORIAL POPE PIUS X

Matthew 23: 1 - 12
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1 Then said Jesus to the crowds and to his disciples,
2 "The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat;
3 so practice and observe whatever they tell you, but not what they do; for they preach, but do not practice.
4 They bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with their finger.
5 They do all their deeds to be seen by men; for they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long,
6 and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues,
7 and salutations in the market places, and being called rabbi by men.
8 But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brethren.
9 And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven.
10 Neither be called masters, for you have one master, the Christ.
11 He who is greatest among you shall be your servant;
12 whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. http://jceworld.blogspot.com/2010/08/todays-gospel-aug-21-memorial-pope-pius.html